Promises
by noPurpleProse
Summary: Remus finds the apartment in utter shambles, as Sirius searches desperately for something he's lost. What was the prat looking for, and why is he acting so bloody strange?


Disclaimer: The Pups do not belong to me, and neither does the entire HP universe.

**Promises**

Remus walked into the apartment and locked the door behind him. And, suddenly, it hit him.

That is, one of Sirius's shoes hit him on the head.

"Sirius, what are you doing?" he asked his boyfriend as he rubbed his head.

"Nothing," Sirius mumbled, turning from the closet. "I think I lost something."

"What was it?"

"Nothing," he assured his lover. He hopped onto the bed, where Remus was taking his shoes off, and asked jauntily, "So how was your day?"

"Fine," Remus mumbled, "Considering, of course, that Mr. Tankus was finally fed up with my missing a few days every month and decided to fire me."

"Oh, no." His brow wrinkled sympathetically. "You don't think he figured it out, do you, Moony?"

Remus shook his head. "He may be the owner of a bookshop, but Mr. Tankus really isn't very bright." He let out a tired sigh and lay down on his back beside Sirius. "How was yours?"

"Fine. Considering I was bored."

"Well, at least until you lost that thing, right? Because you had something to do then."

"Oh yeah, it was an absolute ball rummaging through the closet for that – thing."

"Are you ever going to tell me what you were looking for?"

"Maybe," Sirius taunted, grazing his fingers across the stomach of Remus's gray shirt.

Remus gently picked Sirius's hand up and laced his fingers through it. "Well, if you don't tell me, there's a chance I won't let you continue with this activity."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that," the man assured him with an almost feral grin. "You can't resist me. I'm Sirius Damn Black… damn it!"

"'Sirius Damn Black' is right," mumbled Remus, rolling his eyes skyward. He yawned and turned toward Sirius, snuggling into his chest. He was knackered.

"Moony, you old arse, it's only six o' clock."

"Yes, but it's surprisingly tiring to get fired. Funny, you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but nope – still tiring."

Sirius grinned. "Such a comedian," he whispered, pressing a kiss atop Remus's head. Suddenly he gathered both of Remus's hands into his own. "Hey, love, you want to go out tonight? Or we could stay in," he added at Remus's protesting grunt. "That'll probably be more fun anyway."

"Oh, it will be," he said, pulling into a kiss.

"Bloody vixen," Sirius whispered once both their shirts were off. "Or is vixen only for a bird? Would you be a vixon?"

"Sirius, the fact that you can ask those questions while I'm trying to defile you is very disconcerting." He skipped a beat. "And if a vixen is a female; I suppose I'm just plainly a fox."

Sirius laughed. "Good to know." He brought his lips to Remus's shoulder, nibbling softly. He thought this was his favorite part of Remus to nibble, but he wasn't quite sure. He decided to conduct further experimentation.

**.:.:.:.**

Remus sighed contentedly. They were laying in post-coital relief and relaxation. He leaned in toward Sirius, subconsciously sliding his hand under his lover's pillow. He felt something there and brought it out. "Pads, what's this?"

"What?" he asked dazedly. He was still deciding on his mouth's favorite Remus-part.

"This," he replied. "It was under your pillow."

He looked at Remus's hand, startled. "That's – Well – That's not what it looks like."

"So it's not a ring, then?"

"Um, no. In fact, it's very much not a ring."

"Sirius," Remus grinned, "it has my name on it."

"Oh, fuck all. Yes, it's yours," he gave up, turning his face away.

"Is this what your were looking for earlier?"

Sirius opened his eyes suddenly. "Actually… well, actually, no."

"What? So you knew it was there the entire time and you were just going to let us fornicate all over it?"

Sirius smiled impishly and shrugged. "Maybe?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "But then… what were you looking for?"

"Well, that's not important. You've got a ring with your name on it and that's what counts."

Remus wasn't fooled by Sirius's act. There was a certain glint of disappointment in his lover's eyes that he got to know rather well over the years, and he wanted to know why it was there. "Where's yours," he pressed on. Sirius squirmed. "Padfoot," Remus said as if he were scolding the dark-haired man.

Sirius's eyebrows formed a tight-knitted line as he thought in deep concentration. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he could finally blurt something out. "Yours is mine and I can't find yours!" he tried to explain in frustration.

"What?" The troubled look on the animagus's face broke the werewolf in half. He wrinkled his eyebrows, willing himself to understand.

Sirius sighed. "The ring in your hand… it's not yours. Or, well, it wasn't going to be. It was supposed to be mine because it has your name on it and yours says 'Padfoot', but I can't find it! I don't know where the bloody fuck it got off to. Today was supposed to be a good day, Remus. A good day with… with rings and romance and promises. But I'm Sirius Black and I can't do anything right," he huffed.

Remus took hold of Sirius's arm and looked kindly into his lover's eyes and shook his head slightly. "That's not how it goes," he whispered. "You're Sirius Black and you can't do anything _normal._ But this is good, Sirius. This is all right. We'll get up and find the ring and the romancey goodness will be on its way. And, anyway, it's not as if the evening was completely dry."

Remus, bless his goddamn werewolf soul, always tried so hard to make everything better again. Sirius grinned and looked at the sheets around them. "No," he laughed, "not dry at all."

**.:.:.:.**

It didn't take them long to find the ring.

After searching under the bed, through the sheets, behind the backboard, under the pillows, under the mattress, behind the curtains, underneath the desk, atop the bookshelf, behind the books, in the wardrobe, and behind the lamp they decided that the ring probably wasn't in the bedroom.

Sirius searched a little half-heartedly while he was in the bathroom because he was pretty sure he hadn't hid it there.

But, then, there was that period of time back before fourth year when he was pretty sure he would marry a bird and their children would grow up with Prongs's. He looked at Remus, who was rummaging through the couch cushions and laughed. Maybe his being "pretty sure" wasn't so reliable, after all.

He was searching through the medicine cabinet when he heard Remus shout, "Eureka!"

"Excuse me?" Sirius said, walking out of the bathroom with a wash towel in his hands.

Remus blushed. "I found the ring."

"And you say 'Eureka'. Well done," he said, throwing the wash towel down on the floor of the living room.

"Hey, do you want me to give you this ring or not?"

"It's yours, remember?"

"Yeah, but I… I thought you were going to… ring me."

"You dirty, dirty man, you."

"Ha. Ha," Remus said dryly. "I want you to know that you're not funny. And I only ever laugh at your jokes so I don't hurt your feelings."

"I'll take that into consideration. Now, come here," he smiled lovingly. Remus walked over and Sirius gave him a soft kiss. "You want it here?"

"You dirty, dirty man, you," Remus said softly.

Sirius laughed. He pulled the werewolf's hands into his and said, "Remus, we've been together since the end of fifth year. We graduated three months ago and moved in together directly after. I've known you since we were still kids. And we've grown into men, side by side. We grew into two men who loved each other more than they thought they could love anyone.

"I was sure you'd hate me after we spent a few _weeks_ living together, just you and I. I thought it would be different, which it has been, but in a good way. Now we don't have to worry about Prongs or Peter when we shag. They never walk in on us." He laughed, "Works for everyone.

"Anyway, I thought we could take one more, final step together." He placed the ring between his forefinger and thumb and looked into Remus's eyes, saying, "Moony, I love you. And I was wondering if you'd like to be mine." He paused. "Forever."

Remus grinned, "Of course I will."

Sirius slipped the ring onto the ring finger of his partner, who mumbled "Romantic sod" under his breath.

"Okay, now it's your turn for a romantic and well thought-out speech."

"Well damn. How am I to top yours?" He smiled teasingly. His face sobered, and Remus looked deeply into the wonderful, grey eyes he loved. "Just know that you are the most important person in my life. And I love you. I never want to be anywhere without you. And with our names engraved into the each other's rings, well, we won't ever have to be."

"That was the idea," Sirius grinned.

"Sirius?" he asked without waiting for a reply. "Well, I'll promise to be yours forever if you'll promise to be mine forever."

"Forever," Sirius agreed. "I promise."


End file.
